The goal of the critical care service (or Intensive Care Unit – ICU) of the Veterinary Specialty and Emergency Center is to provide the highest level of intensive 24-hour care to our critically ill patients as well as provide consistent and effective communication with our clients and referring veterinarians.

*VSEC Levittown is a Level 1 Certified Facility by the Veterinary Emergency & Critical Care Society. This is the highest level of certification awarded by the Veterinary Emergency & Critical Care Society.

Our ICU is led by six board-certified critical care specialists who are Diplomates of the American College of Veterinary Emergency & Critical Care or ACVECC. Only Diplomates of the ACVECC have completed a 3-year residency in emergency and critical care and passed a series of national qualifying examinations to become board certified specialists in the field of veterinary emergency and critical care medicine. No other veterinarians have received as much rigorous and complete training and testing in the field of veterinary emergency and critical care.

Patients may be admitted to the ICU directly from our referring veterinarians, transferred from the VSEC emergency service following emergency room evaluation, or transferred by other VSEC specialty services for consultation, intensive care ,and critical monitoring.

Patients admitted to the ICU may include those with complex and multi-systemic diseases such as:

If your pet is in our ICU, you can expect to be in close contact with our veterinarians and nurses. Daily visitation is encouraged for most of our patients. We also keep in touch with your primary veterinarian with daily faxed updates and phone calls.

In Their Own Words

All of you showed exemplary compassion to us during the critical days. Mandy was critically ill with encephalitis and all of you in some way helped us through this difficult time. We will never forget each one of you and how compassionate you were to our precious Mandy and to us!Dave & Donna, Philadelphia, PAView More »